Don Berry Wins 2015 Senior & Section Player of the Year

Don Berry-2015 Senior Player of the Year & 2015 Section Player of the Year

The 2015 Senior Player of the Year as well as the highest honor, 2015 Section Player of the Year, is Don Berry of Edinburgh USA for the second straight year. Don had an incredible year including multiple first place finishes, nine to be exact, in Section events featuring the best golfers the state of Minnesota has to offer. When the stakes got higher and the competition got tougher, Don seemed to elevate his play to a whole different level. In his fourth year as a senior player, he won his fourth Senior Player of the Year award. He won the honor this year with a dominant performance by winning the three major senior events which include the Senior Open, Senior Match Play Championship, and Senior Section Championship. His impressive year did not end there, he took home the Section Player of the Year award for 16th time in the past 21 years. Don’s most treasured victory came at the Section Championship, helping propel him to the top of the standings for Section Player of the Year. He competed on the national landscape in both the Senior PGA Professional National Championship and PGA Professional National Championship. Although he missed the cut in the PGA Professional National Championship, Don was able to clinch a berth in the 2016 Senior PGA Championship with a Top 35 finish in the Senior PGA Professional National Championship.

The Senior Player of the Year award is given to the most outstanding player in the Senior division, 50 years of age and above. The Section Player of the Year award honors the best performance by a PGA Professional regardless of his or her division. The player with the highest accumulated point totals in each division are declared the Player of the Year. Don finished nearly 170 points ahead of Mike Flaherty of University GC in the Senior Player of the Year standings and almost 200 points in front of 4-time Player of the Year Jeff Sorenson of The Minikahda Club for Section Player of the Year.

What does it mean to win both the Senior Player of the Year and Section Player of the Year awards at this age?

“I just thought last year was a fluke, but it is great to do it again this year. I never imagined I could still could be able to compete at the Section level. It certainly is neat, and I’m happy in how I have played in the past couple years.”

What has allowed you to have so much success in your career?

“Playing in tournaments. I feel that at some point some players shy away due to past performances and fear of playing poorly; I still enjoy playing tournaments and have never felt that way. I have always had the desire to play competitively, and I enjoy doing it.”

Is there anything specific you want to accomplish at this point in your career?

“I would like to play really well at a national tournament and be able to be in one of them all the way until the end. I want to have a chance to be in the hunt during a major, senior tournament—to just have that feeling. I have played in those types of tournaments but never really finished where I would have hoped.”

Section Accomplishments:

16-time Section Player of the Year; 4-time Senior Player of the Year; 2009 Minnesota Golf Hall of Fame

Congratulations Don on being the Senior Player of the Year and Section Player of the Year.

The Minnesota Section PGA consists of PGA Professionals who are experts in the game and business of golf. Our mission is to promote the enjoyment and involvement of the game of golf and to contribute to its growth by providing services to golf professionals, the golf industry, people who play golf or would like to start playing golf.PGA Section Offices oversee the 41 geographic regions throughout the United States and provide the grass-roots network for the nation’s 25 million amateur golfers and with the PGA’s 27,000 members.